I was wrong. I have wondered publicly whether or not a smaller tablet would fit into my workflow and even suggested the larger iPad would be better. I was wrong.

I picked up my iPad mini and iPad 4 from Apple just after the special event ended last week in San Jose and have been using them ever since. I haven’t used the mini to the exclusion of my iPad, but I wanted to see where this new device would fit into my lifestyle without being forced.

What I found was surprising to me. I actually used the iPad mini more than my iPad.

It’s important to understand how I use my iPad. My iPad is the device I use at the end of the day when I put my computer down, but still have a few things to do. I’m winding down at that point in the day.

I answer emails, check the site and basically get things ready for the next day. Since all of my information is kept in iCloud or services like Instapaper, I have access to everything I need on all my devices. For instance, any links I save using Instapaper are also on my Mac, so I don’t need to worry about where I work or what device I use.

Of course, things are a little different when I travel — the iPad gets more use than normal in airplanes, hotels, airports and meetings.

In addition to using the iPad mini in my normal daily tasks, I also found that I would pick up the mini and use it where I normally wouldn’t use the iPad. For instance, if I’m on a phone call, I would typically use my iPhone to look things up while I walk around or type notes, look at Web sites and things like that. Now, I’m using the iPad mini because it’s compact enough to carry around, but not so large that it’s cumbersome.

The iPad mini has technologies that help you use the device too. For instance, when you hold the mini with one hand your thumb naturally touches the screen on the side of the device. There is no way to stop that from happening — it’s going to happen.

Now, when you’re reading a book and you touch the side of the screen, the book will think you want to change pages. And it would do that, if the iPad weren’t smart. But it is smart, so it recognizes that you are resting your thumb on the device and don’t actually want that touch to do anything. So it doesn’t. Smart.

If you tap your thumb on the screen, it will immediately change the page for you. Smart. Apple worked out how people were going to use and even hold the device and made sure iOS and the iPad didn’t interfere with what you want to do. Those are the types of details we expect to see from Apple.

This isn’t even something I noticed on the larger iPad because I didn’t walk around holding it with one hand. I didn’t have to worry about accidental taps on the screen. However, it’s something I do quite a bit with the mini.

Unlike my iPad 4 that I typically use in landscape mode, I find myself in portrait almost all the time with iPad mini, even when I’m not on the move. It just feels more natural to be in that orientation than holding it in landscape.

Perhaps part of that comes from typing. With the iPad mini in portrait, I can type with two thumbs, much the same way I do with my iPhone. I don’t know if everyone will be able to do this as comfortably as I can, but I suspect they will. My hands are not abnormally large, so it should work fine.

I use my iPad mini for tasks rather than watching videos or playing games, but I use it a lot. This is a Wi-Fi model, which was on all the time and I have yet to see anything cause a significant drain on the battery. The battery is lasting days for me and it is on 24/7.

If there was one thing I was surprised with, it would be that the iPad mini doesn’t have a Retina display. It surely gives Apple some room to upgrade the device if they want to next year, but that’s the only thing I would really add to the mini.

I suppose the decision makes sense if it keeps the cost down. It’s not like you are shocked looking at the existing screen, it is very nice.

About those other tablets

I’d like to get back to the very beginning for a minute. I said that I didn’t know if I would like the smaller form factor tablet and it bothered me a bit when I did. I wondered how I had missed the mark so badly.

I wanted to find out.

I went to a local big box retailer and used every tablet they had in the store, including the Asus Windows 8 tablet. The difference was immediately clear. The quality of these other tablets is so inferior to what Apple manufactures that they felt like plastic toys in your hands.

All of the tablets, all of them, bend when you hold them. They are made of cheap plastic parts and the casing felt like it would snap. Until now, these were the only mid-sized tablets I have ever used and they were awful. That’s what I was basing my opinion on.

I tapped on a link four times on the Asus before it would do anything. After it finally went to the page, I only had to tap the back arrow three times to get back.

I am a firm believer in “you get what you pay for.” The iPad mini is a perfect example of that. If you want to save $50 and buy a cheap-ass tablet, go ahead. If you want quality the iPad mini will be waiting for you when you come to your senses.

iPad 4

There’s not really much to say about the iPad 4. It’s really fast in both processor speed and graphics, but we knew that. For me, the iPad 4 gives developers more headroom to continue pushing the envelope of what they can produce. That in turn, gives us better products to buy for the iPad. It’s good anytime that happens.

Bottom Line

I was really surprised with how much I used the iPad mini in my daily routine — more than the 10-inch iPad. There are a couple of things you have to remember with the iPad mini. First, it isn’t just a smaller iPad, but rather it feels like its own device.

Anything that is simply shrunk down or scaled up feels amateurish. The iPad mini feels like an iPad, it’s something you can have fun with and accomplish tasks on.

The second thing is that what seems like a little bit of extra screen real estate on the iPad mini makes a huge difference. Everything just works on the mini — all of your old apps, iCloud, everything. It works.

The iPad mini is a well thought out device and it’s exactly what you would expect from Apple.

Update: I mistakenly said that I used the Microsoft Surface tablet. In fact, it was an Asus Windows 8 tablet. The review has been changed to reflect.

Adriano Geletes

Didn’t expect anything else, but I am missing the retina display and some storage upgrades. Nonetheless its – like the iPad Pro – the best tablet in its category.

Lack of retina display is the killer for me. And your point about the new processor and graphics in the new iPad giving developers the headroom to continue pushing the envelope is exactly what makes me question how long the mini can stay useable when it’s saddled with two gen old speeds.

About the size thing… So it wasn’t the size of the other tablets that you were complaining about before, it was their build quality? Even when you were saying it was their size? That doesn’t make sense.

You have a special section in your review dedicated to your reasoning behind being previously opposed to a smaller form factor, and the entire section focuses on the build quality of those tablets.

“I said that I didn’t know if I would like the smaller form factor tablet and it bothered me a bit when I did.”

“They are made of cheap plastic parts and the casing felt like it would snap. Until now, these were the only mid-sized tablets I have ever used and they were awful. That’s what I was basing my opinion on.”

Yes, you have one line at the very end if your review about screen real estate on the iPad mini, but it’s not related back to your argument about the other tablets or why you were against their smaller size in any way.

You said all along you were against smaller tablets. Now you’re saying you’re against smaller tablets that aren’t built as well as the iPad mini.

Just calling a spade a spade here.

Steven Fisher

It read less like calling a spade a spade and more just needing to be right about something (and, by extension, make someone else wrong).

When people say “2 gen old” regarding the processor in the iPad Mini, I think this is incorrect. Didn’t the iPad 2 get a slight processor upgrade when it became the $399 iPad when the iPad 3rd Gen released? I seem to remember reading it did, but Apple didn’t change the name of the chip. If so, then the Mini would be using this slightly updated version, right?

Even if that’s true, it’s still two processor classes behind. Pick and choose your semantics all you want, but the bottom line is the mini soon won’t be able to keep up with anyone developing for today’s best iPad cpu and graphics.

U.B.

No it’s not. The A5x just boosted GFX capabilities which was necessary because of the retina display. The CPU wasn’t any faster. Go check some benchmarks, they all show that the mini is just as fast as the iPad 2 and iPad 3rd gen. Only the brand new iPad 4th gen is faster. So the mini is precisely 1 generation behind the bleeding edge.

You’re right about the CPU. My bad. I misunderstood what it meant to go from A5 to A5X, but I see what you’re saying, now. So the mini’s CPU is in fact one generation behind that of the latest and greatest iPad.

But the GPU is two generations behind, right? They upped it on the iPad 3rd gen with the A5X, then they upped it again on the iPad 4th gen now with the A6X.

This is starting to get dicey, but if we concede that that first GPU bump was for the sake of the retina display (making GPU performance on the mini and the iPad 3rd gen essentially the same), then the iPad 4th gen is really one generation, performance-wise, ahead of the the mini.

So basically, the mini is last year’s tech, not two years ago’s tech. I’d still feel better if the latest mini was on par with the latest full-sized iPad, but I can see how this would be less of an issue for others.

Steven Fisher

It’s funny how we accept that last year’s tech miniaturized is this year’s tech in computers — in fact, it almost seems just short of miraculous — but not in a radically smaller iPad. There, it’s contemptible.

Until the iPad’s CPU stops pushing what Apple can do in a 9.7″ form factor, the iPad mini is going to be behind in capability as it’s pushing what Apple can do in a 7.9″ form factor.

The A5 in the mini was a compromise for battery life. The 7.9″ form factor requires a substantially smaller battery, and going with the bumped A5 that was used in the IPad 2 allowed for substantial power savings to maintain the iPad standard 10 hour run time. From what I understand from talking to some apple engineers, that was also why the retina display was not included, it requires the more power hungry A5X to push the pixels, leading to poor battery life with the smaller battery. Remember when the IPad 3 hit the market all the noise about how slow it charged, how warm it got, and that it was heavier because they had to include that huge battery to power the thing. There is just no way to cram that much battery capacity into a new device that is .28mm thin and substantially smaller.

The GPU is slower, but it also has to push one-quarter as many pixels as the latest-generation Apple tablets.

So the slower GPU should be fine.

Ninja Gaiden

Let’s pause for a second here. This is a 7″ tablet. How much processor/graphics speed do you really need for uses typical of 7″ tablets? Also, I doubt any of the apps out there today with the exception of graphics-intense games made for retina displays even come close to hogging the GPU.

For the record, my first-gen iPad is still running like a champ with iOS 5 and does everything I need it to do without a hitch, including email, office apps, safari, and reading magazines I subscribe to.

So, yeah, just keep in mind what device this is, the target demographic and intended use, before starting a new Mhz war a la Pentium 4 / AMD era.

I don’t think you should discount how useable the mini should be based on its size. If the smaller size is a better fit for someone, why should they not expect to have as valid an experience using it as on a full-sized iPad? That being said from everything I’ve learned today it seems they can – compared to the 3rd gen iPad, anyway.

But you have a point about getting caught up in a Mhz war, so to speak. Unfortunately, Apple are the ones who keep touting what chip their using in which iOS device, and for the kids following at home it can get a little confusing – especially when a new device is being shown using an older chip. You have read between the lines there and know that a) this has the same CPU power as the chip that succeeded it and b) doesn’t require the same GPU power as it’s successor because the mini doesn’t have a retina display.

Most people won’t know or appreciate that, hence a lot of the confusion and concern I’m hearing, and was sharing in until earlier today.

It makes sense if you know that the Mini has much more usable screen space than the other 7″ tablets. Plus you are paraphrasing what he said incorrectly and attacking it. That’s called building a strawman.

No, I’m not. He previously said he was against smaller tablets because of their size. In his review, he explicitly states his reason for being against smaller tablets is because all the smaller tablets had pour build quality – even though he never gave this reason before. Now that there is a smaller tablet with a build quality he can get behind, suddenly smaller tablets are ok.

It has to be the same. There is only one 2nd Gen LTE chipset they could be using.

Ninja Gaiden

My bet is it’s different, considering iPhone5 is not a ‘world LTE’ phone (different frequencies in North America vs EU), whereas the iPad4 works for the most part across the world

Dan

Nice review jim, thanks. Mine will be here friday, I’m just not certain if that display will be a deal-breaker or not. For an average consumer i’m sure it will be no big deal. But for those of us who like the latest and greatest, do you think it simply won’t do?

I have a Retina 15-inch MacBook, iPhone 5 and iPad 4. The screen on the iPad mini didn’t make me cringe or anything like that. Perhaps you have uses that would require that though.

rj

“About those other tablets”

Doesn’t sound like you used a Nexus 7 which, while not quite as nice as a typical Apple product, has a solid enough feel and a grippy back panel that is less prone to scratching. It certainly doesn’t bend when you hold it or feel like the casing will snap. And it seems pretty unlikely that you used a Kindle Fire HD, which isn’t sold in Canadian big box stores.

Your “save $50” comment further reinforces my belief that you missed the iPad Mini’s two biggest competitors, as they both start at $199 – $130 less than the Mini.

Are you suggesting that Apple created it’s own small tablet market, or that other tablets ‘just can’t compete’ with the iPad Mini?

tiburon

I agree. I love Apple products and I have been using the Nexus 7 for weeks. There is nothing shoddy about it. Do I think it will out sell the iPad Mini? No. But, I think that is due more to brand loyalty than any differences in build or capabilities

Herding_sheep

You don’t see any difference in build quality? I’m not saying the Nexus is a ‘bad’ product, but if you can’t see a noticeable difference in quality between the mini, get your eyes checked. Even when Schiller showed those slides in his presentation of a mini next to a Nexus, the difference in build quality is night and day.

The mini has higher quality build and craftsmanship, there’s no debate. That’s not saying the Nexus is bad, it’s just not extraordinary in terms of fit/finish and craftsmanship like the Mini is.

One thing the untrained eye can’t spot is just the level of quality of Apples new anodized aluminum. Anyone who knows anything about anodizing, Apple has a new process in the 5/Touch/Mini that is way beyond anything they’ve done. The quality of the finish being superior, while also managing to do it on a thinner less dense sheet of aluminum. That’s not easy. And that’s why the new products are so significantly lighter than before.

rattyuk

The worst thing about the Nexus is that consequences of Google / Android insisting that phone apps work on tablets. Well they do but the experience is dreadful. Try Flipboard on an iPad then try it on the Nexus 7. It is dreadful.

Now you could say that that is the fault of the Flipboard team for not developing for a tablet market but that misses the point. Google insist that this is the way to go and there is no difference. Except there is and it becomes glaringly obvious when you see something like this.

My complaints with the Nexus are about the shoddy little software details.

Half the apps you install will issue a notification saying “Move ‘app’ to SD Card, Click here”. Well,(a) you don’t click on a touch screen and more importantly (b) the Nexus doesn’t have an SD card – it take you to a screen whose only purpose appears to be to uninstall. Try typing steve@apple.com into the Chrome Search Bar. Yes, the UK Keyboard they present doesn’t actually have an ‘@’ visible – it has delta and ™ and (r) and other unuseful crap, but no ‘@’.

That’s putting aside the (admittedly third party) Notification Toggle that shows battery strength in the status bar – sad that the background task just dies but the number remains visible, leading you to assume you have more power than you have. The problem, of course, being Androids much-touted “flawless multi-tasking”.

Sure, those sorts of niggly details can be fixed in software releases. But seriously, we’re up to release 4.1, not 1.0

steven75

It’s not brand loyalty–It’s software ecosystem.

As Ballmer is so fond of saying: developers, developers, developers!

steven75

The Kindle Fire HD is an electronic Amazon shopping catalog.

It’s fine if that’s what you want–but don’t compare it to dedicated tablets like the iPad mini and Nexus 7.

Glad I ordered on day one, and its set to deliver to me on Friday. Woohoo. 32gb wifi model.

MashedPotatoess

This device definitely is beautiful, and I’d imagine it’s a device you’d really have to touch and feel to truly experience the amazing build quality.

I think for many customers this is ideal. It’s by no means slow and can carry out many tasks sufficiently. The screen while a downgrade from the 4th generation iPad, is by no means unusable. I think this will make the perfect holiday gift for many consumers.

Just not me 😉 I value performance and display, but we all have different use cases.

The iPad mini will be a hit, no doubt!

discosrule

I have a iPad2 and a Nexus7, love the form factor of the Nexus7 but love iOS more, so have been thinking about down sizing… however ever since I put a simple rubber backed cover on the back of my iPad2 and a just a screen protector I have been using my iPad2 more and more, no need to flip a stupid smart cover over!

Might have to goto the Apple Store and fight the queues to play with both the iPad4 and the mini…. which one will win in my hands!

You are awesome Jim! I love a writer who’s not afraid of telling it like it is while all the other tech blogs only care about writing link bait for the anti-Apple zealots.

MG

Jim, thanks for this real world-focused review.

How dim does the display go down to? Would be great for night reading if it was like the iPad 3, and not the iPad 1.

jtnave

I have been in the market for a 7inch tablet for over a year and a half now. I’ve used Samsung Galaxy Tab and 7+, HTC Flyer, Nook Color, Kindle Fire, Acer Iconia A100, and the Nexus 7 extensively so I’ve covered the bases. I do think that the Nexus 7 is the best Android tablet I’ve used but it’s always a mixed bag with Android. My criteria for the 7inch tablet is to be light, apps that “just work”, real updates without crapware slowing it down, and a “non-cheap feel” all of which the iPad Mini seems to meet.

There were misses to me, price being one, but I look at it as Apple is the BMW/Lexus of the tech world while Android is more of a Toyota/Dodge brand. They all work, but you pay a premium with Apple. The other is the lack of Retina, but I tend to think it’s not going to be THAT bad. There will be a difference than the iPad 3/4, but in the end it’ll show better than the iPad 2.

Are you going to keep the Wi-Fi or get a LTE one? I’ve ordered 3 iPad mini 32Gb for Christmas presents and one for myself but I’m debating to exchange for an LTE one, I do have AT&T Hotspot feature to tether but I’m not sure how the iPhone battery will do after tethering on and off with the iPad mini, the thing is that if I add the iPad mini to my mobile share AT&T plan it will cost me $10 extra per month plus the $130 for LTE and I’m not sure if I’ll be out all the time in need to use LTE without being close to a WI-FI connection, I have an iPad 3 LTE and I’ve only used the cellular data when I took my kids to Disney World last spring break.

But I’m thinking to myself that due to the portability of the iPad mini it makes more sense that it is going to be with me when I’m out more than the iPad 3 and even if WI-FI is “everywhere” nothing beats the comfort of “slide to unlock” and you are online without thinking about your phone battery or even reaching for the phone to turn the hotspot (I know, lame)…the “always online” idea is tempting but it will eat my mobile share (family) data plan too and it will cost extra $10/month plus the $130 for the cellular version while the tether option will save money and use “only” as needed.

Sorry for the long comment, I would love to hear your opinion about this.

cashxx

One thing I keep seeing from reviewers that I think isn’t being talked about correctly is the new touch sensitivity. I believe for those who want you can keep your thumb on the screen so you have a better grip if needed as you use your other hand to touch around on the screen. So say if you hold the iPad Mini with your left hand, I think you can have your thumb on the screen and use your right hand to move around without your left thumb being picked up. Anyway you can clarify this about the new touch enhancements? All the reviews I seen so far didn’t mention it and talked about how they didn’t notice any difference, but I think they aren’t playing theirs thumbs on the screen or I mis-understood that during the keynote.

Texazzpete

Now this is hilarious. Every single reviewer in the planet raves about the Surface build quality and talks about it’s magnesium body. Now you come and tell us it is made of plastic and flexes in the hand (something every other surface reviewer and owner says absolutely does not happen). You say it felt cheap…while even the harshest reviews of the device say its one of the most premium looking and feeling tablets ever made. Then you refer to the 10.6 inch Surface as a ‘mid-sized tablet’.

LOL

Can you PLEASE keep your reviews honest?

Steve

Jim, great review, I’m awaiting my iPad(4th gen) to be delivered Friday. However reading you’re review, which was very well written, I am thinking the mini looks pretty nice for me. It is a tough decision which one I should ultimately get since my iphone 5 has that speedy new a6 and I was thinking the mini would be a step down in performance for me even though I just read, play games, watch movies and email %90 of the time. Can you speak to which of these you would recommend for those uses?being behind in chip tech is really m only holdup. Cheers

Adriano Geletes

I just don’t get why people don’t stop whining about the price! If you don’t have the money, then you shouldn’t buy one! Seriously, I can’t buy a Porsche, so I am not whining about it all day long!

I think the starting price is exactly what it has to be. Other tablet makers are destroying the 7-8″ tablet market, before it even started. They are conditioning buyers to a price which is absolutely disproportionate to the mind blowing device that you have in your hands (and I am talking about every tablet, not just the iPad mini – although the iPad mini is the best in every aspect, IMO). To make my opinion more clear: Just two years ago, there was nothing like a tablet that you can carry around and use it for your workaday life. Two years later, some stupid tablet makers sell it for 200USD!? Really? Every time I use my third gen. iPad, it feels like magic (really, I can’t believe holding the internet in my hand) and I just cost me 500 Euros. That is just mind-blowing and now you can get the feeling for just 329.

If you want a new device with a huge ecosystem and people who have worked really hard to make it easy to use, should be repaid by a price tag, that implies “We believe good stuff has it’s price!”.

Derrick S

I’m not sure you completely understand why the iPad mini is priced at $329. Tim Cook defends that price because it is a premium device and we want to keep it that way…sure. Investors think that they should have priced it lower in order to better compete with/demolish the ‘other’ smaller tablets. Consumer always want the lowest price anyways, so they were expecting to pay $250.

Well, what happens in the next iteration when Apple decided to put in that Retina Display that everybody wanted? They’re not going to raise the price of the iPad mini, because they didn’t do that for the regular iPad when they put in the RD, it stayed at $500. It’s going to stay at $329, so they can benefit from the yields now (people will buy this, regardless of the RD nick picking from owners who own it all so their eyes actually bleed when they look at a non-RD display, and they will maintain high yields in the next iteration when they put in a RD and A6 chip. It’s the perfect strategy.

But he’s right, though. I I disagree with his explicit reasoning, but there’s another important factor: $200 is an artificially low price, set in place by companies who are selling their product at a loss.

It would be poor business sense for Apple to try to compete on price with “loss leaders”.

Furthermore, Apple has always carefully shaped their overall product lineup, and carefully chosen the price point of each product with consideration for the rest of the lineup. Pricing the iPad Mini below the iPod Touch would have been problematic in terms of the product lineup.

I’d have been grateful for a $200/ $250 iPad Mini, but the current price makes business sense.

Derrick S

No one understand why the iPad mini is priced at $329 when it’s so very easy to understand. Tim Cook defends that price because it is a premium device and we want to keep it that way…sure. Investors think that they should have priced it lower in order to better compete with/demolish the ‘other’ smaller tablets. Consumer always want the lowest price anyways, so they were expecting to pay $250.

Well, what happens in the next iteration when Apple decided to put in that Retina Display that everybody wanted? They’re not going to raise the price of the iPad mini, because they didn’t do that for the regular iPad when they put in the RD, it stayed at $500. It’s going to stay at $329, so they can benefit from the yields now (people will buy this, regardless of the RD nick picking from owners who own it all so their eyes actually bleed when they look at a non-RD display, and they will maintain high yields in the next iteration when they put in a RD and A6 chip. It’s the perfect strategy.

So keep bitching about the price being too high.

stefn

Will Amazon and Google stand behind their products? In the last year, I sent my two year old iPod in for repair, free, and brought my iMac in for a new hard drive, free, and a new screen, also free. So my three year old iMac is now close to new. Gizmos always break eventually and cheaper gizmos normally break sooner not later. Where can I go to fix the Fire or the Nexus?

I’ve owned a Nexus 7 since launch. My biggest complaint is I have to hold it a particular way for it to be comfortable. Attempting to hold it like a large smart phone with my pinky supporting the base causes the cheap USB port to grind into my finger.

The bezel doesn’t have a smooth taper either which aids the bezel’s edge into bitting into my pinky. Sure, it isn’t has sharp as a knife, but I don’t understand why there’s an edge in the first place.

It’s the little things that will lead me into replacing my Nexus 7 with something else.

I love my iPad Mini! It is easier for me to take with me in my purse and haul around. I use it for everything from a planner to watching TV. I am constantly traveling for my job with DISH, and I hate missing all my shows. I use my DISH Remote Access app, which allows me to watch live TV wherever I can get a Wi-Fi connection. I used to take my regular iPad with me, and I always hated having to haul it around in my purse. It always weighed me down. I personally think the iPad Mini is well worth the price!

Jeff

As someone who’s had all iPads from day one, I can tell you that I am REALLY looking forward to receiving my ipad mini 64 GB LTE (white) in 2 weeks +/-… I am a total Apple fanboy, but I can honestly say that the “New ipad” (gen 3) was a real disappointment to me. I waited on line for it… While the LTE speeds are amazing (and I have grandfathered AT&T UNLIMITED LTE), I simply feel that the retina display is unnecessary and sucks battery BIG TIME. I have always felt that I can barely tell the difference between the retina display and my wife’s ipad 2. Plus my ipad 3 gets warm, the charger gets BOILING hot, and it takes forever to charge with the 10 watt original charger (they should have included the new 12 watt version)… I tested the Slingplayer streaming TV app on my home wifi last week. Ipad 3 lasted only about 5 hours. Ipad 2 lasted about 30 minutes longer ( both on full brightness). But once they were drained, ipad 3 would not charge AT ALL while the Slingplayer app was running. Ipad 2 – no problem. So it’s a really battery hog with a big honkin’ battery to charge. Takes forever!! So, ipad mini LTE will give me everything that I loved about ipad 2 and more. Screen still looks great – Retina is nice on iPhone 4S and 5, but as someone who has used them all, I think the difference is negligible and the pros (weight, size, battery life, heat) TOTALLY outweigh the cons (less pixels than Nexus & Fire ipad4). Plus, better camera ( should have had a flash, though…) and faster wifi, and regular 5watt charger (can easily charge in my car) will make this an absolute winner. More money – yes, but quality costs… I can’t wait! Anyone wanna buy a slightly used ipad 3?? 😉

I would like to know where you found a Windows 8 tablet that was $50 cheaper than the iPad mini. For that matter, I would like to know where you found an Asus Windows 8–as opposed to a Windows RT–tablet period. The only Asus Windows 8 tablets are the VivoTab and the VivoTab Smart, and they’re hardly widely available.

justin bieber

Well I have one and I prefer you download Siri and its so cool the ipad mini

chris

Funny thing that your mention having to tap a link four times to get it to work in another brand’s tablet, because that happened three times to me in my first session with the iPad mini.